Does Home Cooking Really Save Money?

It’s an old tip, isn’t it? Cook everything at home and you can save lots of money on your regular shopping bill. But there is a reason why this is an old tip. It’s because it works.

If you are looking to save money, one of the best ways to begin is by cutting down on your expenditure. It’s easier to save money than it is to earn more. Many people find they can shave a huge amount off their grocery bill when they try. So does home cooking really make such a big difference?

Make your own ready meals

Ready meals are expensive. Even if you only buy one or two a week, you’d be surprised how much the costs add up.

However, if you buy ingredients for dishes you can cook in bulk, you can make one huge meal and freeze it in portions instead. That way, you can still simply reheat something in the oven to eat it when you don’t have time to cook from scratch each day.

Cook from your cupboards

This is all about using up leftovers, and raiding the larder to see what you have in there. How many tins and other goodies do you have that get pushed to the back of your food cupboard and forgotten about?

Make a list of ingredients and create a meal around them. Even if you have to get one or two things to complete the meal, it’s still cheaper than buying everything from scratch each week.

Stock up on basics

By basics, we mean meat, eggs, flour and so on. Think of the ingredients you need to make easy meals at home. When you have some experience, you’ll know what you can make quickly and easily that will save you money as well.

Make lunch instead of buying it

Lunch is hardly cooking, but you can take leftovers into work if you have some way of storing and heating them. Again, it’s about preparing things from scratch – and you can find things you’re able to freeze and then take in to defrost while at work.

Experience counts for a lot

If you go from your usual shopping habits to cooking from scratch, you’ll notice an almost-immediate drop in the amount you spend. However, you might also realise you can save more as you gain more experience. Give it a couple of weeks and you’ll have a small repertoire of recipes you go to frequently. The more time you spend trying to save money on food shopping, the easier it will get. And over time, there are even bigger savings to be made.

All of which makes daily life much easier, and frees up some spare cash if you should need it. So if you try this and you feel you aren’t saving much to begin with, don’t give up. You’d be surprised how much cheaper home cooking is when you start doing it regularly – not to mention giving you more experience in the kitchen as well.